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Two Oklahoma County judicial races on the ballot Tuesday

Two Oklahoma County judicial races are on the primary election ballot.

In each race, a winner could be decided Tuesday if a candidate gets a majority of the votes. Otherwise, the two top vote-getters will square off in November. Where a new judge will serve will be decided after the election.

District Judge Howard Haralson and two opponents are running for the Office 3 seat in western Oklahoma County. Four candidates are seeking to fill the Office 5 seat, which is opening because District Judge Patricia Parrish is retiring.

District Judge – District 7, Office 3

Howard R. Haralson, 61, of Oklahoma City (Incumbent)

Haralson is running for election for the first time. He was appointed by Gov. Mary Fallin last year. He currently is the chief judge at the Juvenile Justice Center. Before his appointment, Haralson was a special judge.

“The thing about juvenile court is we work hard to make sure it's not an adversarial system. We want to do whatever we can to help families get reunited,” Haralson said. “I do my work. I do it accurately. I do it timely.

"I enjoy what I'm doing. … When they come to my courtroom, they're going to be heard, they're going to be treated with respect."

Mark K. Bailey, 49, of Oklahoma City

Bailey has practiced law for 17 years, primarily as a criminal defense attorney.

“A judge has to be fair and that's it. That's the bottom line. That's what we should expect from our judges — someone with experience, knowledge and, above all else, administer that fairly,” Bailey said.

Bailey was charged last year with a felony. Prosecutors dismissed the assault case “in the interest of justice.” Bailey said his experience seeing the “system from the inside out” motivated him to run.

“Any time somebody is falsely accused, it really does put things in a new light,” he said.

Amy Palumbo, 40, of Oklahoma City

Palumbo has been an attorney for 14 years. She currently runs a private law firm in Oklahoma City with her husband. She previously worked as an assistant public defender and later as a prosecutor in Oklahoma County.

She said she has worked on misdemeanor cases to death penalty cases. She promised to apply the law “as it's written."

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“Everybody has their day in court and everyone's entitled to be treated with fairness and compassion,” she said. “They can expect me to show up every day and give my all and let every single person who stands before me know that I'm actually listening.”

Palumbo ran for district judge in 2014, losing by 1 percentage point. She also ran for the state House in 2015 and lost.

District Judge – District 7, Office 5

Chris Sloan, 42, of Oklahoma City

Sloan has run a private law firm in Oklahoma City for 15 years, representing more than 2,000 people in civil and criminal cases.

“I've spent more time in that courthouse in particular than any other candidate. ... I've been down there enough to know how to make things work,” Sloan said. “I've proven myself time and time again to my clients and to people who know me down at the courthouse.”

Sloan sought to have Natalie Mai removed from the ballot, claiming she did not live in Oklahoma County. He hired private investigators to watch a Cleveland County residence and go through trash. The Oklahoma State Election Board denied Sloan's request.

Natalie Mai, 39, of Oklahoma City

Mai was born in Vietnam and came to the United States as a child. She became an attorney in 2009 and opened a private practice in Oklahoma City for criminal and civil cases.

“I've done it all,” she said. “I've worked hard all my life and I'll bring that to the bench. I will definitely work hard, be prepared, follow the law, give people a chance to be heard and do my job.”

Mai said the confusion over where she lived stemmed from buying her parents' home because they could no longer afford it. Mai often spends time at her parents' home because her mother helps take care of her daughter, she said.

Erik Motsinger, 37, of Oklahoma City

Motsinger was an Oklahoma County prosecutor for 10 years, working major drug cases. He coordinated joint federal and state task forces. He has been a criminal defense attorney in Oklahoma City since 2014.

“The most important role for a judge is to be fair and to be impartial and to mete out justice,” Motsinger said. “Listen to both sides, carefully consider all the evidence, carefully consider all the factors and come to a conclusion that is appropriate."

He called himself a “constitutional conservative endorsed by law enforcement.”

Motsinger is blind in one eye and partially blind in the other because he was born with cancer. Hearing the phrase “Justice is Blind” motivated him to seek a legal career, he said.

Hank Young, 60, Edmond

Young has been an attorney for more than 30 years, mostly in private practice. He served as a federal prosecutor in Baltimore in the 1990s. He has been the senior director of legal services at the Oklahoma Health Care Authority since 2014.

“The reasons that I think I should be a compelling candidate is simply based on my years of experience and the breadth of my practice,” Young said. “I've had a really good mix of complex litigation both on the criminal and civil side, and administrative and agency law."

Kyle Schwab has been a reporter for The Oklahoman newspaper since 2013. He currently covers Oklahoma City courts. He graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a major in journalism. He lives in Edmond.
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